DETROIT, MI - The Michigan Science Center, formerly known as the Detroit
Science Center, has been given a $500,000 donation from Novi-based ITC
Holdings.

The gift means the center, located at 5020 John R. St. in Midtown, and
shuttered since Sept. 2011, is half way toward reaching its fundraising goal and ultimately reopening, spokeswoman
said Shelly Otenbaker told MLive today.

"We don't have a projected
opening date at this time," Otenbaker said. "The entire board is working on an
opening strategy right now, but the opening is entirely contingent on enough funds."

Otenbaker noted that earlier this year former Michigan
Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser acquired all of the science center's
assets, as well as its debt. The financially troubled center was set for a liquidation in July before Weiser bought it from its mortgage holder, Citizens Bank, for $6.2 million.

The center's board of directors is now working to
acquire it from Weiser, and once it does, it will open as a financially healthy
entity, Otenbaker said.

"We won't have that debt going forward," she said. "We'd
be in good financial shape."